Manuel and Gerard Linares are no strangers to crises or change and their success, despite the many business challenges created by the pandemic, is a testament to their resilience.
“We are going to start again,” said Manuel. “We are testing the waters. But it took us two and a half years since the pandemic to really get our mojo back.”
Their mojo is back in the form of the Uno Marketplace Mexican Eatery on Franklin Boulevard in Cambridge https://www.unomarketplace.com where they sell Mexican groceries and Mexican takeout food, but that’s just part of the story.
“Prior to this business I had a Mexican food distribution company so, we were importing products from Mexico,” said Manuel. “We rented this warehouse thinking that we were going to continue with the distribution company, but then COVID started, and we switched our business model.”
The switch proved successful, but the brothers knew better than to grow complacent.
“The model is basically, Mexican groceries and takeout Mexican food, but there is a twist to it,” Manuel said. “We started experimenting with a ghost kitchen in the back offering burgers and rotisserie chicken. We already have the toys in the back so, we just reuse them in a different way.”
The Uno rotisserie chicken is their own brand.
“That’s something we are launching this week,” said Gerard. “Sandwiches, wings, rotisserie chicken. We’re trying to compete with those big chicken guys like Mary Browns. The burgers are MrBeast Burgers.”
MrBeast Burger is a virtual fast-food restaurant started in North Carolina by Youtube entrepreneur and philanthropist Jimmy Donaldson. Since its launch in 2020, it has expanded to hundreds of ghost kitchens throughout the US, Canada and Latin America as well as Europe and the Middle East.
Flipping burgers is second nature for Gerard who operated a popular Mexican restaurant in Toronto for more than six years before moving to Cambridge last spring.
“My first job was flipping burgers when I was 16 or 17,” he said. “All MrBeast does is lend the name out and we make the burgers. Then we slap the sticker on and that’s it.”
Renting out ghost kitchen space has become a popular option for restaurants struggling to pay the bills and the Linares Brothers along with their business partner Marcela Leduc are always looking for creative ways to capitalize the space at their 8,000 sq ft location.
The brothers have made a lot of sacrifices to get to where they are today.
Manuel was 16 and Gerard 10 in 1991 when their parents brought them and their younger sister to Canada to escape more than a decade of civil war and political corruption in their home country of El Salvador.
It was a disruptive and difficult time for the family as they attempted to start their lives over in a strange new country with a different culture and language.
“I told my son many, many times when he was younger, ‘Your grandparents came to this country to try to make it,” said Manuel. “You have an opportunity to make it, so make it.’”
Much of the brothers’ efforts were formed by the immigrant experience and the hope that their children will have a better life than them.
“We’re not first generation,” said Manuel. “We are still immigrants ourselves. It got to the point where I didn’t know if I am from here or from there, but these kids know where they are from. They are Canadians. They have an identity.”
Many of the customers at Uno Marketplace are immigrants as well.
“People think because we have a Mexican restaurant that only Mexicans come here to buy stuff, but we cater to and have customers from every background you can imagine,” Manuel said. “As you know the city has grown and there are a lot of different ethnicities these days so, we cater to everybody.”
They have been focusing on growing their business with the many companies in the area.
“Since last summer we have been doing a lot of private and commercial catering,” said Gerard. “It’s an important part of our future growth to cater to offices and companies here.”
They are even looking at getting back into the distribution business.
“If you don’t adapt to what’s happening in the market, you are left behind and that is what we want to achieve here,” Manuel said. “We are always looking into what’s next to really keep up with what is going on.”
